Special report: South Yorkshire Police force merger plan

Claire Lewis, crime reporter

Police chiefs in South Yorkshire Police are set to merge virtually every department with neighbouring forces in a bid to save cash – protecting only neighbourhood teams from the axe.

The warning was issued by Chief Constable David Crompton, who said nothing was safe as police forces battle to save money. He said with government budget cuts leaving him having to find savings of £49 million by the end of 2016, plans are being made for mergers with neighbouring forces – both back office functions and frontline services.

Mr Crompton said: “We are reaching the stage where with almost anything we can do jointly with other police forces, we plan to do that,

“We already have joint human resources, IT and procurement. Anything else we can do jointly to save money will have a strong case – finance, vetting, communications, call handling and health and safety, plus specialisms such as firearms and dogs and those which investigate organised crime and murder investigations; almost everything over and above local policing.

“Basically anything above and beyond police officers and community support officers patrolling the streets is up for grabs.

“If we can do it more efficiently with another force or local authority then we will look at it.

“Some issues we deal with are the same that local authorities deal with too – domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour and troubled families. We both invest a lot of time and money dealing with the same issues and people, so those are examples of how we could work together more efficiently.”